Welcome to the Living
Practice Quarterly eNewsletter – Winter 2004
- Editor’s
Letter with Megan McCarver
- A Vincent
Van Gogh Quote
- Teacher/Student
Prayer contributed by Arun Deva
- When Yoga
Can Be “Prayer in Action” by Sam Dworkis
- A Quote
by Isadora Duncan
- Prayer Prayer Prayer by Ruth
Gould-Goodman
- Everyday
Prayers by Sadie Nardini
- A Carolyn
Myss Prayer Story
- Introducing
the Gayatri Mantra by Dr. Deepa Apte
- Prayer
Commentary by rf
- What is
Prayer? (from one Sikh’s perspective) By Hari Atma
Kaur Khalsa
- DVD
Review: Anatomy for Yoga by Paul Grilley
- A Note from
YogaEverywhere
- Yoga
Classified and Events
Namaste Yoga
Friends, Family and Yoga Teachers,
Blessing and salutations. I am so happy to
share the Living Practice with you. Did you know we have been sending out our
eNewsletter now for four years … simply amazing! Thank you old friends and
welcome newcomers!
This
Quarter … please welcome several new international writers to YogaEverywhere’s
Living Practice eNewsletter. Our writers have weaved a wonderful tapestry of
teaching and inspirations for our online yoga community addressing the topic,
“prayer and yoga”. Thanks for your “maha” contributions.
I define
yoga, in a nut shell, as an investigative practice of relationships and prayer
as a shared intention between others and spirit and myself…perhaps a divine
cellular “multi-way” phone call with God.
Is prayer a pattern of words soothing the yearning soul, therefore is pranayama a prayer?
Have you
noticed some yoga classes to be so physically demanding that you are chasing your
breath like Peter Pan chasing his shadow? While other yoga classes you have taken facilitae intimate conversations with God while surrendering
to Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (pigeon pose)? Is prayer consciously incorporated in to our
yoga practice? Into our spines? Lastly I question the ancient
Eastern concept, could it be getting lost in the demanding Western world when
we are not on our yoga mats?
It is our
curious nature to question, stay open and experience. I am delighted to share
the Living Practice with you and will treasure and post your insights and
comments in Springs issue.
With love
and gratitude for your attention,
Megan
A Vincent Van
Gogh Quote
First of
all the twinkling stars vibrated, but remained motionless in space, then all
the celestial globes were united into one series of movements. …Firmament and
planets both disappeared, but the mighty breath which gives life to all things
and in which all is bound up remained.
Teacher/Student
Prayer contributed by Arun Deva
saha nāvavatu,
May we,
guru and disciple, be protected together
saha nāu bhunaktu,
May we
enjoy the fruits of our actions together
saha vīryam karavāvahai,
May we
achieve strength together
tejasvi nāvadhitamastu
May our
knowledge be full of light
mā vidvişāvahai
May we
never have enmity for one another
(repeat three times)
Śāntih śāntih śāntihi
Peace,
peace, forever peace
Born in
When Yoga Can
Be “Prayer in Action” by Sam Dworkis
It's all
semantics; but how many of us westerners practice yoga more physically than
spiritually? If, perhaps, the student were reminded that the practice isn't
just a fitness program, but that there is a much bigger picture, might that be
helpful? If so, perhaps a gentle reminder to consider what they are doing (what
is yoga?) might help that student to explore more of the intrinsic benefits of
the practice.
During the
past twenty-five years, I have taken classes around the world from master and
minor yoga teachers from as many different disciplines as I could find. In
addition, I have an accumulation of yoga books from all disciplines and from
all perspectives. Most are beautifully produced and share wonderful messages
about yoga.
As I
remember back to the many classes I've taken and as I look through these many
books, my overriding concern is that if the body becomes stressed doing asana,
might our spiritual potential or even our spiritual desire become compromised?
A yogi aesthetic who becomes injured during asana might say "Thank you
God," and use that injury for a deeper spiritual meaning.
But a
normal westerner who becomes injured during asana might just be inclined to
chuck it and go look for another form of physical (and perhaps spiritual)
program. Ergo, my intention is to share with yoga teachers from all traditions
how to maximize physical benefit and how to minimize physical liability and
thereby enhance one's spiritual potential.
When
appropriately practiced, you can both enhance your strength, flexibility, and
endurance, while at the very same time, be able to deeply quiet your mind. It’s
at that point when yoga truly becomes “Prayer in Action.”
Sam
Dworkis, MA, LMT, is author of ExTension (Simon &
Schuster 1994) and Recovery Yoga (Random House 1997). He teaches individuals
and small groups in
A Quote by Isadora
Duncan
There is a
type of dancer who can convert the body into a luminous fluidity, surrendering
it to the inspiration of the soul. This … sort of dancer understands that the body,
by force of the soul, can in fact be converted to a luminous fluid. The flesh
becomes light and transparent, as shown through the X-ray – but with the
difference that the human soul is lighter than these rays. When, in its diving
power, it completely posses the body, it converts that into a luminous moving
cloud and thus can manifest itself in the whole of its divinity.
Prayer Prayer Prayer by Ruth
Gould-Goodman
Prayer is
the portal between the worlds of possibility and of manifestation. It is the
place where individual consciousness aligns itself with the will of the
totality. Prayer asks the infinite to align its power with that of the
individual to assist in the actualization of a mutually creative project. Each
person’s prayers filters through the lens of their own
unique belief, perspective and point of view.
Prayer that arises out of fear (fear of dying, fear of others, fear of disease)
is calling upon a limited field of possibilities. Fear sees through the lens of
fragmentation and limitation. Fear, by its very nature, defines a response that
does not recognize the divine intelligence or the perfect inter-relatedness of
all parts to all parts.
Prayer is empowered by opening the love that arises from the center of each of
our individual hearts. Love is the unifying substrate of all manifestation and
thus is the glue that holds all things interconnected. To acknowledge the
perfection of what is manifested invites the process of creation to unfold in a
particular direction. In this way we enlist the whole of creation to align with
our individual intention.
Prayer that arises out of a place that is able to perceive the expression of
the divine in every manifestation, by its very nature, helps to awaken an
understanding of the principle that holds all life on this planet. Love, after
all, is what holds open the portal between the manifest and the un-manifest.
The deeper our love … the more vast the available energy to actualize our
deepest prayers.
Group Prayer
Prayer is empowered through the activation of the group mind. The activation
happens through resonance. The more purely a group expresses it’s intention by
vibrating the frequency of the actualization of that intentioned reality
together, the more power is available for the intention to manifest.
First we must create the frequency within our self. Then, together we empower
each other by mutually and simultaneously resonating
the frequency of that which is being created. It is much easier to birth a new
reality when others are gathered with mutual intent. We impact each other
geometrically.
The Prayer of
all Creation
Prayer is happening all the time. The Ocean is praying to the sky, the sky to
the ocean. Everything that we bring into our life is the result of unconscious
or conscious intention. All our minds are powerful creation matrixes.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all create exactly what we believe to be
true. We receive the world that we live in as an exact mirror for what we
believe to be true. We all arise out of infinite possibility. If we are in pain
then we must look at our intention both individually and as a group. Perhaps
our prayer, both unconscious and conscious is arising out of a fear of
life. We then must do the inner work to reconstruct our relationship with
life itself. Perhaps if we self observe and learn from the intelligence of
life, we will find our way to finally draw out the threads of our fear
encrusted reactive mind to rewire the major text of our operating manual. If
there is no fear, all that is left is the truth of
love. Without fear defining our prayer, we finally will actualize the deepest
prayer of all existence and that is the blossoming of love, joy and peace for
all beings on this planet.
Ruth
Gould-Goodman teaches right relationship with the deep creative process of
life. She works by holding space for you to explore the expressive capacity of
your body. Her work utilizing dance, voice, breath awareness, precise alignment
and hands on energy work. Her purpose is to empower people to rewire back to
their authentic beauty and wholeness. She is a licensed acupuncturist and has
been working as a Tantric Healer for thirty years. Ruth Gould can be contacted
at Portaltopower@aol.com / (310) 392-3612.
Everyday
Prayers by Sadie Nardini, RYT
It's
getting colder here in
I, however,
took a pause from writing to acknowledge the tenacity of Nature, in all her
feisty glory. How audacious, to whirl into a city cafe and dance around the
feet of strangers! It made me smile, and I sat back with my chai
in hand to watch the show. I glanced
around the room. I recognized the man reading the Times, Jack the morning
barista, the little boy eating a bagel with his grandmother at the counter, and
that same young guy asleep on the couch.
We were
each unique, in our own worlds-- yet I felt we were also connected by a
universal energy that seemed to be stopping by just to let us know it was in
the neighborhood, and wanted to play. At that moment, I felt the presence of
the universe all around us, and it comforted me. I said a silent prayer, and
hoped everyone in that room would be a little more at peace that day, a little
more playful than usual. I was struck that maybe the dancing leaves had already
answered the prayer—at least, for me.
I am a yoga
teacher who is interested in the way we can be most present to what is actually
happening right now. I ask all of my students to seek fullness in this moment,
not in the past or the future, which cannot be experienced. I encourage them to be always watchful for
the magic of the everyday, and the fact that we can be offering our thanks, our
questions, and prayers even in the most mundane of situations.
In this
way, we are relying on our inner wisdom and innate trust that something is here
to guide us and to lead us through the joys and hardships of life. We need not
distract ourselves from the intensity of now by moving away from our present
experience.
I often see
students come into class exhausted and dulled from the act of moving through
their same old routines without feeling the presence of the divine. I invite
them to perceive the universal beauty in the way the bubbles form on dirty
dishes. To seek inspiration by taking a “long cut” through the park instead of
their usual route, pray for help in the
middle of a two-minute chair pose, cultivate the bravery to call someone who
needs to hear “thank you”, or “I’m sorry”--even for a little thing.
When we
practice offering prayers of thanks, of positive energy, of compassion in every
moment, we cultivate the spiritual practice of Sadhana
in the everyday. Then, our lives become filled with our presence, and we begin
to wake up to the answers that are all around us. Prayers are not only things
we ask for, but also the vast blessings we receive when we remember to look
around us, even on a Thursday morning, and see that the universe, as always, is
laughing.
Sadie Nardini teaches a vigorous, creative blend of Hatha Vinyasa yoga influenced by the alignment
and heart-oriented practice of Anusara Yoga. She currently teaches at www.movementsalon.com as well as
semi-privates in her home studio. Sadie
is opening Shri Yoga NYC, a Manhattan-based Anusara
Vinyasa studio in Spring, 2004. For more information,
A Carolyn Myss Prayer Story
I retell
this story to my students as often as I can in yoga classes to remind them of
the power of prayer… I heard it years ago from Carolyn Myss
and it has brought me back to using prayer on a daily basis. The story goes
like this…
It
was rush hour. A woman
had been killed in a car accident, and was hovering over her crushed body. The cars were backed up for miles in a dead lock on the
freeway. While waiting for the accident to be cleared, the dead woman could
hear the many negative mental comments from the lines of stopped traffic.... such
as "This is horrible because we are not moving …, we are going to be late…I
hate traffic…, what is taking so long…." However, the woman then saw a ray
of light coming from a car fifteen cars back. She zeroed in on the driver’s
thoughts while stuck in the dead lock, reciting this prayer, "God, if you
can, please help this woman."
At that moment, the dead
woman felt herself being drawn back to her body. But, just before returning to
life, she took note of the license plate of the woman in prayer.
Months
later when the woman healed, she appeared at the praying woman's door with a
bouquet of flowers, and said, "Thank you for your prayers, you saved my
life!"
Every time
Rose, (our precious five year old) and I hear an ambulance or siren, we pray.
Every time we hear the cry of suffering, or pass a road side kill, we pray. Every time we see a sunset we pray. Every transition we experience we pray.
Simple blessings are heard long distances.
May all souls be Happy,
May all souls be Peaceful.
May all souls be free from Suffering.
Prayer
Commentary by rf
Yoga? Prayer? I usually say
I don’t like it. Too many gurus! Lots of excuses even in the
presence of friends, students or colleagues who tout the everlasting benefits
of the wonderful yoga or spiritual avenues available. Yoga prayers... they
are in the everyday as is living, breathing, laughing, giving, and
waiting.
That seems
to be my practice. The quiet reverberation of one word / two word thoughts as
source for peace, connecting self-soul to the cosmos without the conscious
presence of others, or an obvious teacher.
This is the moment to moment of yoga that makes sense to me.
Yoga as soul-truth. In the spontaneous
search for a supportive and simple action for a previously very ill and unhappy
client of mine, the following notion manifested as a solution for hope and
comfort, even during the most unendurable phases of her illness.
“Ahhhhhh- Haaaaaa” Two
sounds of breathing: one a sigh of
relief; the second a notion of laughter. The two become connected to create the
possibility of surprise!
If you try
it, you may find a smile accenting your face.
Isn’t that really what life's all about? Something to
hold onto even in the midst of trial or discomfort.
Another one
I really love is the letter "L". I envision it as a symbol to
remind me of Laughter, Love, Light... draw it with your mind's eye to feel the
boundless power behind it whenever you feel less than empowered. May the Yoga
(prayer) be with you!
Rhonda Funes (Fyu'ness) is a sage
practitioner/instructor of reflexology for the soul at The Santa Monica Center
of Healing Arts in
(****And
with overwhelming pressures of everyday experiences from family strife to
worldly news, at the end of the day, before the precious entry to restorative
sleep-yoga,
Feel free
to express your own heart prayer. Mine
often goes something like this:
Thank you
for all the day’s interactions with those both known to
me or otherwise,
and
whatever I could not do to help …please help them for me. Send blessings to my friends, family,
coworkers, clients, world leaders, those who struggle and anyone trying to help
them. Thank you … thank you … thank
you).
Introducing
the Gayatri Mantra by Dr. Deepa Apte
Tat savitur
varenyam
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Bhur – physical world /level
Bhuvah – astral world /level
Svah – spiritual world /level
Tat – that (the highest Self)
Savitur – Ishwara (God)
Varenyam – worthy of
Bhargo – conquerer
of ignorance
Devasya – luminous
Dhimahi – we meditate
Dhiyo – intellect
Yo – to one who
Nah – our
Prachodayat – enlighten
Gayatri
Mantra and Pranava (
Although
all Sanskrit Mantras are not translatable, the closest meaning of Gayatri
mantra is as follows: “
According
to the legends, Gayatri (also called Savitri) is the
second wife of Lord Brahma (first wife is Saraswati).
It is said that Saraswati was once not able to take
part in a ritual along with Lord Brahma in his palace. And as it was important
to conduct the ritual along with his wife, Brahma was forced to marry a girl
from a non-Aryan family.
Usually
this mantra is chanted every morning before beginning any daily activities and
on special occasions. Gayatri mantra gives a person all the required strength
and support to be able to have a strong mind especially in times of
difficulties. To attain the right effect of this Mantra, it is usually accepted
from a Guru (teacher). It is said that it is very important to chant the mantra
with the correct pronunciation. A Mantra chanted with mistakes is worse than
chanting no mantra at all.
It is said
that the syllables of this mantra are a summary of the 4 Vedas. The 24
syllables denote the 24 Shaktis or powers of Gayatri.
Gayatri
mantra and Anuloma-Viloma (breathing exercise)
Pranayama : Breathe in – Gayatri mantra-once
Holding of
breath – Gayatri mantra-twice
Breathe out
– Gayatri mantra-once
Dr. Deepa Apte is a fully qualified
medical doctor now practicing Yoga and Ayurveda in
What is
Prayer? By Hari Atma Kaur Khalsa
(Prayer
from one Sikh’s perspective)
Prayer is a
humble affair. It is best done from the heart with concentration on the ’Word
of God.’ There are many beautiful prayers from many different religions. Some
people have made up their own prayers which also are very beautiful. God (the almighty)
delights in them all. I have chosen the Sikh religion so I will share what
nourishes me.
Sikhs have
5 banies (prayers) designated at certain times of the day. The banies
correspond with the times that there is greatest change on the earth, (i.e.
just before sun up, sun down, bed, etc). The banies also correspond to the
elements ether, air, fire, water and earth.
Jap Sahib
is ideally done after rising in the ambrosial hours
Jap Ji - is done in the ambrosial hours around
Shabad Hazare- the longing to belong. We all long to belong and
this bani binds one to the
infinite.
Anand
Sahib is the fire element- Anand is bliss. Anand Sahib is ideally done before
Rehras
relates to the element water. Ideally done at sunset …because
the Earth is rotating away from the sun.
Kirtan Sohila- the song of praise is done before going to sleep at
night. It prevents nightmares and relates to the earth element.
The times
given above are ideal and the banies can be recited at any time and be
beneficial to one. It is just that, the most negative times, spare one from the
repeated actions, or karma, by replacing it with dharma (the path of truth),
which can be the path of anyone (i.e. Catholic, Buddhist, Christian,
etc.) Banies can also be recited after eating this helps one not to
overeat and be satisfied. As earthlings we benefit from nourishing our spirits.
One day we will leave this physical body and all we do is preparation for that
moment. Reciting the banies stimulates the meridian points on the roof of your
mouth, which affects your consciousness in a positive way.
Prayer is
not so much asking for something as being in a receptive mode to realize the
essence we already are. We vibrate that when we recite the
Hari Atma
Kaur Khalsa has been studying and teaching Kundalini yoga as taught by
Yogi Bhajan since 1980 and has been studying gurmukhi for 24 yrs as well
as has been studying healing herbs, massage and ayurveda since the 70's. Hari
Atma Kaur Khalsa’s center is Breath of Life Center located in
DVD Review:
Anatomy for Yoga by Paul Grilley
Anatomy for
Yoga by Paul Grilley is a new and invaluable resource for both yoga students
and yoga teachers. Included on the DVD are nearly four hours of in-depth
lectures, demonstrations and comparisons of human anatomy as it relates to the
yoga practice. Paul explains complicated
concepts such as compression, tension, and orientation in a way that will help
you understand why no two people ever experience the same yoga posture in
exactly the same way. I found the DVD to answer many teaching questions I have had
in anatomy and clarify many misconceptions.
The
production quality is outstanding. The graphics are beautiful. The menu
structure is easy to navigate. And the side by side comparisons of students in
the same poses were enlightening.